Fundamental Rights Forum 2018

The Centre co-organized a session on whole-of-society approaches to migrant inclusion in local and national inclusion policies at the 2018 Fundamental Rights Forum in Vienna. Organized by the European Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Forum offered three days of open sessions, inspiring talks and panel debates, bringing together leading European and global agents for change to debate the rise of populism in Europe and challenges facing human rights.

In partnership with the European Program for Integration and Migration (EPIM), the session explored alternative ways to think of migrant inclusion from the perspective of community cohesion in diverse European societies and innovative approaches that aim for collective and individual improvements of quality of life and social relationships of all members of the society-migrants included.

Global Pluralism Award honourable mention recipient, Welcoming America, was represented by its founder David Lubell, now Founding Director of the Welcoming International Initiative. David shared his experience of fostering a welcoming culture in the US, in particular in communities that have reacted negatively towards newcomers, as well as those that are neither hostile nor welcoming towards newcomers. Using a step-by-step approach , by first engaging with a small group of community leaders (for e.g. Baptist Churches in Nashville), progressively engaging with the broader society and then generating evidence on how communities are benefiting (economically) from a welcoming climate for migrants and all residents, Welcoming America has gradually contributed to system change. During the session, Lubell also introduced the organization’s Welcoming certification for cities.